Patent Policy Framework draft and RAND

Dear W3C Patent Policy Working Group,

I am the director of a web application services company called netSIGN
Communications Inc. in Vancouver, Canada.

I'm concerned about the recent Patent Policy Framework draft, which could
allow W3C members to charge royalty fees for technologies included in web
standards.

In particular, I object to the inclusion of a "reasonable and
non-discriminatory" (RAND) licensing option in the proposed policy. I
believe that the exclusive use of a "royalty-free" (RF) licensing model is
in the best interests of the Internet community, and that RAND licensing
would always necessarily exclude some would-be implementors.

I applaud the W3C for its tradition of providing open-source reference
implementations and its work to promote a wide variety of interoperable
implementations of its open standards. The W3C can best continue its work
of "leading the Web to its full potential" by continuing this tradition,
and saying no to RAND licensing.

Sincerely,

Weston Triemstra
Director, netSIGN Communications Inc.
weston@netsign.com

........................................................................
                                            n e t S I G N communications
    weston triemstra                              303 railway street
    weston@netsign.com                            vancouver, bc v6a 1a4
                                                  canada
                                                  604.685.5095
........................................................................

Received on Thursday, 11 October 2001 18:41:24 UTC